In general, the blood plasma disappearance rate and the retention rate have been measured by a known method of blood sampling through use of indocyanine green (hereinafter referred to as ICG) serving as a specific dye.
According to said known method, a tester intravenously injects ICG into an elbow vein of a person to be tested. Blood samples are taken from the testee three times after 5, 10 and 15 minutes have elapsed counted from the injection. Upon coagulation of blood clots in the blood samples, the blood serum is separated and the absorbance is measured at a wavelength of 805 nm by a spectrophotometer to obtain ICG concentration values in the blood serum after 5, 10 and 15 minutes have elapsed. The measured values are compared to a previously obtained calibration curve plotted as the ICG concentration in the blood as a function of the absorbance. The blood plasma disappearance rate and the retention rate are calculated from changes of the concentration values. ICG is dissolved in a physiological salt solution or the like. The repeated taking of blood samples subjects the patient to mental and physical burdens which are undesirable. Japanese Patent Publication Gazette No. 58649/1985 discloses a method of applying light through the body surface of an organism and measuring quantities of light of a wavelength having a high ICG absorption sensitivity and that of a wavelength substantially having no such a sensitivity, whereby the blood plasma disappearance rate and the retention rate are obtained from changes occurring with the passage of time as shown in a dye disappearance curve, without performing blood sampling.
An R.sub.MAX measuring method for evaluating the blood plasma disappearance rate requires performing measurements several times with changes in the ICG dosages. Such a method has been widely employed in recent years, even though blood samples must be taken ten or more times, which further increase the burdens on the testee.
In the aforementioned method of performing measurements without blood sampling, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Gazette No. 58649/1985 or Japanese Patent Laying-Open Gazette No. 162934/1986, the output of a sensor actually attached to an organism, fluctuates due to such influences as a blood flow disturbance caused by compressing a blood vessel, vibration of the organism, which is the object of measurement, pulsation in the organism, changes of the blood volume in the organism, and the like. The blood volume is changed, for example, by merely vertically moving an arm. As a result, a correct dye disappearance curve cannot be obtained. Thus, the blood plasma disappearance rate and the retention rate obtained by the curve cannot be recognized as being correct.
Further, there is disclosed a method of measuring the ICG concentration in blood by employing the widths between peaks of changes in the quantities of light beams of two wavelengths caused by pulse waves through an optical blood measuring apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Gazette No. 128387/1975 or an oximeter described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Gazette No. 88778/1978 as another method of performing measurements without blood sampling. However, such widths of changes in the light quantities cannot be correctly measured due to vibration of the organism, etc., and it has been impossible to obtain a correct dye disappearance curve.